Personal Belongings Insurance Belfast
Insuring Your Belongings
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking, ‘I’ll be okay, so long as I always lock the door.’ Despite their low/no incomes, students make rich pickings for opportunistic thieves who know one raid on a student premises can result in a bounty of laptops, iPods and lava lamps. It doesn’t matter whether you live in or out, it only takes a minute to grab a DVD player or walk off with a computer.
Another trap is to think that you don’t have anything worth nicking. The average student usually has £1,650 worth of stuff in their bedroom alone, according to M&S Money - and then there's whatever you've got in the kitchen, bathroom and living room to factor in as well.
You’d be surprised what people will take if they can’t find anything valuable. If they’re stupid enough to go thieving other people’s stuff in the first place, they’re stupid enough to think your clothes, your homemade music compilations, your books and even your mugs and half-used toiletries are worth taking.
Even students who don’t have a computer, a TV or even a stereo are often surprised at how much their combined possessions are worth. Unfortunately, they only usually stop to work it out when it’s been pinched and, because they thought insurance was an unnecessary expense, they’re now forking out to replace it all.
If you are in halls of residence, you may find that your rent charge includes a comprehensive insurance policy to cover all the students living there. But don’t assume that it does. Failing that, check your parents’ home insurance policy. Quite a few of them cover your belongings even though you’re living away from home (but sometimes they exclude student residences, so read the small print).
If you’re living out, your landlord should already have building insurance (to cover fire and structural damage), but it won’t cover any contents of the building that belong to you. You’ll need to take out either your own policy or a joint policy with your housemates. It’s likely to be a little more expensive than if you were living in, depending on the security measures (window locks, alarms and so on) and, most importantly, exactly where you’re living.
If after checking all these options, it turns out you’re not insured, you can get basic personal cover from pretty much any general insurance company or bank. There are companies that specialise in students, most notably Endsleigh (www.endsleigh.co.uk) and www.cover4students.com, although other companies such as E&L (www.eandl.co.uk) and Norwich Union (www.norwichunion.com) often have packages that are just as good, depending on where you’re living.
For total possessions up to a value of £3,000, premiums will usually be around £60, with higher rates for those in private rented accommodation off campus. Three grand isn’t actually all that much and if you’ve got a computer or any expensive bit of kit, you’ll need to talk to the insurer about either increased cover or insuring that item separately. (You might also want to cover certain items for accidental loss or damage.)
If you live in a dodgy area and have thousands of pounds worth of stuff in your room, there will be no avoiding a sky-high premium – but it’s worth it anyway. It’s higher precisely because you’re more likely to be robbed.
Generally, possessions insurance shouldn’t set you back more than £100 a year tops. If it does, either get another quote or see if you can leave some of your more valuable possessions back at home, especially things like jewellery. Cheaper policies will set you back about £40 but you have to ask yourself if they will sufficiently cover your belongings.
Just because you’re insured up to the hilt, don’t get complacent about security. Not only is making a claim a real hassle, but replacing stuff takes time and is never 100% satisfactory. Besides, there’ll probably be an ‘excess’ on your policy – a sort of buffer zone of anything from £50 to £250 to stop you making pathetically small claims. This means that whatever your claim, you have to meet the amount of the excess yourself – you always lose out. Or if you protect your belongings on your parents policy remember that your making a claim will screw up their policy and what they get in the event of a future claim too.
Just taking out insurance isn’t enough – be aware, too. Home office figures reveal that around a quarter of burglaries are through insecure doors and windows and students have a tendency to be especially lax at this. Lock doors and windows when you go out (or even when you’re in) and if you live on campus and see someone you don’t recognise wandering down your corridor in halls, ask them if they need any help (especially if they’re carrying anything valuable). They may just be visiting a friend. On the other hand they could be on their way to your room, to help themselves while you’re in the kitchen making a coffee.